Mercedes: Her Story
by CrossFaded
Summary: Mercedes is well known as one of the five heroes who defeated the Black Mage. However, what was her story before this? Read on to find out! Edited and revised.
1. Prologue- Invasion of Ellin Forest

Ellin Forest was a dense forest filled with tall, towering trees. Deep within the forest where Arkarium's forces laid ambush, the air was damp and all around them was darkness as not much sunlight could penetrate the forest. All they were waiting for was the rain before they would invade the area where all the elves lived.

Soon, trickles of raindrop started to pour and it gradually became heavier by the second. Under Arkarium's signal, the invasion commenced.

Arkarium's reasoning to start the invasion during the rain was due to the fact that most of the the elves would probably stay at home during the rain and by taking advantage of that, he would set fire to the houses. After that, he would fill the entire area with a poisonous cloud of smoke. It was a very clever move. Either die in the fire or escape and pray that somehow, the mysterious thick smoke outside wasn't poison.

Arkarium chuckled slightly at the thought of this. He was a young, but powerful magician that once lived in Ellin Forest. As the only human who was studying magic here, he was often discriminated against by many elves and fairies. However, the ruler of the elves, Marielle, saw the potential in him and coached him personally.

One day, as Arkarium entered her room for some guidance on a difficult spell he was trying to master, he was surprised to see nobody inside even though the room wasn't locked. At her desk, he saw a book titled "Immortality".

Being the curious sort of guy he was, he went up to her desk and flipped to a random page. That page changed his life forever when he realised that the secret to immortality for humans was the World Tree. Basically, whoever succeeded in discovering the exact location of the World Tree and took over its powers will transcend to the level of a God.

Even though Arkarium's forces only consisted of only humans, but they were very powerful on their own since they could be split into four different classes which were respectively the Warriors, Archers, Thief and Magicians. However, the thieves chose not to take part in today's invasion as they felt that they are more suited for infiltration and assassination rather than engaging the enemy face to face.

Their purpose of the invasion was to force Marielle to reveal the location of the World Tree. Arkarium had promised immortality for all humans once he took over the World Tree to convince them to join him. It was a complete lie of course; Arkarium was never known to be honest.

According to the intel gathered from the thieves, the queen of the fairies, Ephenias, was a good-for-nothing fairy who liked to laze around all the day long in her beautiful, mysterious palace. However, Marielle was once seen together with Rhinne, the Goddess of Time discussing about the World Tree at the Temple of Time by one thief who managed to stay undetected throughout. He was a master Thief who was recognized throughout by every thief at the time, Raven.

Without moving from their position, the magicians casted a powerful fire spell and soon the entire area were set ablaze just like that. The rain did nothing to change the situation as the fire was just simply too strong.

Before the elves could escape from their houses, Arkarium surrounded the area with a huge cloud of poisonous smoke. As predicted by Arkarium, instead of choosing a sure death in the fire, might as well take a risk and escape.

Soon, all the elves fell under the poison and Arkarium started to laugh manicially as he observed the elves lying on the ground struggling to stay alive in the rain; this was simply too easy for him.

Marielle's palace was unaffected by the cloud of poisonous smoke since it was on a huge platform attached high up to a tall, towering tree. However, the once beautiful exterior of the palace was already reduced to a deformed mass of horror by the fire.

Soon, all of Arkarium's forces were surrounding the entire palace except for the Magicians who were busy holding the elves captives. Warriors were positioned at the sides and behind the palace with their spears. Right before the main entrance to the palace was Arkarium and his Archers who were ready to fire at every moment.

"All of the elves have been taken captive by my army of Magicians. If you reveal the location of the World Tree, your people will be saved. If not, all of them will be killed instantly." Arkarium announced loudly.

* * *

Meanwhile, only Marielle, Astlida and a child elf named Philius was left in the audience room as the rest of the elves in the palace had already fled.

"Your Highness, most of our soldiers have been incapacitated by Arkarium's poison. We are now outnumbered by ten to one." It was hard not to notice Astlida's growing tension in her voice.

She was a wizened old elf that Marielle proudly bestowed to her the title of Elder of Life for her incredible age of 17,000 years old and still going.

"I guess I have no choice now." Marielle smiled ruefully.

"Marielle, no, not that skill!" Astlida was horrified. She knew perfectly what she meant.

"Ah, whatever happened to manners, my loyal Astlida. Not that it mattered to me." Marielle's soft laughter was ringing in the air like a melody of a windchime

"I have one last favour for you, Astilda." Marielle took a small, glowing seed out from her priestess robe and gave it to Astlida.

"I now entrust you with Elluel and my sweetheart, Mercedes. Now take Philius away from here as far as possible and go!"

With a tear in Astlida's eye, she quickly grabbed Philius and used his last teleportation crystal to escape the area.

"For my people." Marielle said as she walked gracefully towards the main entrance.

* * *

"Marielle, so you finally appeared." Arkarium snickered.

"You were my best student, Arkarium. But I guess we're on different paths now." Marielle said as she began to levitate above the ground.

"The location of the World Tree. Reveal it or your people will die." Arkarium was now sure of his victory, after all, no matter how powerful she was, he was confident that his forces were too many to be wiped out in single move.

"_Heaven's Door."_

An intense orb of light appeared behind Marielle and a gate slowly emerged from it. All of a sudden, the gate was opened and hordes of miniature angels swarmed out of the gate and started to explode after a short while. However, Marielle's body started to slowly fade away as the gate remained open.

Arkarium was quick to realise that Marielle was constantly sacrificing a small part of her body to continue to keep the gate open. And so, using his staff, Arkarium casted a dark orb that sucked all of the miniature angels into the unforgiving depths of the orb.

"Marielle, what a pathetic way to die." Arkarium was at least half expecting Marielle to show a regretful smile as she started to slowly fade away due to her spell but all he could see was a triumphant smile. It was a smile that Arkarium had often observed when he was checkmated by Marielle during a game of chess with her.

"Checkmate, Arkarium."

"_Royal Flare."_

In a split second, the whole area was filled with a bright, blinding flare and with that, what was left of Marielle disappeared with a bang. Most of Arkarium's forces, including Arkarium himself who was surrounding the palace was severely burned by the sheer intensity of the flare.

After the flare subsided, Arkarium himself was severely injured and most of the Warriors and Archers was killed by the flare. Magicians and most of the elves being held captive were fortunately spared as the Magicians casted a spell that protected both of them from the flare.

The beautiful, vibrant area that the all the elves once lived in, fondly named as Elluel by Marielle was now reduced to nothing by a single flare.

Seeing how most of their comrades were already killed, and with Marielle gone, continuing to hold the elves captive was pointless. Thus, the Magicians and all the Warriors and Archers who were still alive decided to retreat together with a severely injured Arkarium.

* * *

After that invasion, Ephenias quickly took advantage of the chaos by launching her own invasion and succeeded in capturing the area.

Life for the elves became very difficult as they were constantly moving from place to place since they were often attacked by the monsters who were also living in Ellin Forest.

In the end, they had to live in caves since it was the only place where the monsters would leave them alone.

"If it wasn't for our queen, that bastard Epihenias would have taken over our homes a long time ago." A random elf grumbled while eating his moss snail porridge inside the dark, huge cave with the rest of the elves under a fire.

Astlida was sitting at the corner looking at the seed that Marielle had entrusted her. It was still a small, glowing seed like before.

"Why don't we just sell the seed for a fortune and then buy a huge plot of land so that we no longer have to live in a cave." Philius said jokingly. He was now a tall, handsome adult elf sporting a blonde ponytail.

"Don't be insolent, ponytail freak."

"Oh, so its now about the hair?" Philius was fed up with Astlida who often chided him about his hair.

"What did Marielle really mean by Elluel and her sweetheart, Mercedes..." Astlida was now focusing intently on the seed trying to find something that might give her a clue.

"I'm sure you know that Elluel to her means a home for us. So basically, what she was really meant was for you to sell the seed for a fortune so that we can buy a huge plot of land to build Elluel."

Astlida didn't know what to say and so she decided to ignore him.

"Why, why, why. You always ignore me whenever I speak reason." Philius felt victorious as Astlida once again failed to rebutt his reasoning.

"Ever considered planting that seed?" Philius laughed as he started to walked away.

Suddenly, everything made perfect sense to Astlida and the seed she was holding onto now seem to be glowing brighter than before.

"Marielle, thank you." Astlida knew that Marielle wouldn't leave the elves on their own just like that.

* * *

"Alright, guys. We all know that right at the end of this cave, there will be a huge, empty and barren land. This is where we are going to settle down." Astlida said as she started to gather all the elves together.

"No way... You said barren right? How can we survive in such a place like that?" The elves was totally baffled by what Astlida had just said.

"Not with this miracle seed. It was from Marielle before she died. Now I truly understand why she gave me this seed." Astlida was now holding the small, glowing seed high up in the air for everyone to look at.

"Ah yes, by planting the seed, Elluel will just magically pop up and the land will become fertile." Philius said sarcastically.

"Will you cut your disgusting ponytail off if that were to really happen?" Astlida challenged.

"Deal."

* * *

After a long journey of trekking down the dark cave path, they finally saw a light at the end and what greeted them was a huge, barren and empty land like what Astlida had said.

"This better not be a joke, Astlida." Even though the elves were hopeful but two invasions in a row had left them cyncial of any miracle.

Astlida decided on a spot somewhere in the middle of the land and then she planted the seed onto the dry soil. Next, she took a small bottle filled with water and she poured all of it to water the seed.

In less than a second, a large pink, glowing tree emerged from the same spot and then an entire town also started to emerge magically from the ground. The land was no longer barren as grasses and blue trees started growing on the land.

"Miracles do exist!" The elves started to cry as they finally had a place that they could truly call home.

"Geez, I mean it's great that we have a home and all but you guys don't have get so emotional." Philius said as he watched the other elves cry with joy.

"I'm sure you'll understand how they feel when you finally cut your disgusting ponytail off." Astlida said to Philius.

"Son of a gun." Philius was extremely horrified at the thought of his ponytail being cut off.

Soon, the elves quickly settled down into their new homes and everyone of them was grateful that they no longer have to suffer living in caves anymore except for Astlida and Philius, who was sitting under the large, pink glowing tree.

It was just then a baby elf appeared in front of them. She had large, bright blue eyes sporting golden hair and she was in a small cradle.

"Even magic cannot do that!" Philius exclaimed. One moment there was nothing, the next moment a baby appeared.

"She is Marielle's sweetheart, Mercedes." Astlida smiled.

"Her daughter?"

"Probably, probably not. She emerged from the seed together with Elluel."

"No wonder! Only a miracle could do that."

And so, both Astlida and Philius took it upon themselves to take care of her.

To the rest of the elves, according to Astlida, she was Marielle's daughter and her future successor.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Fixed a logical flaw thanks to a guest reviewer.

Since I can't pm him, I'll just leave my thanks here :D Thanks so much!


	2. Chapter 1- Into a New World

Mercedes was now a young child elf with a long, flowing golden hair. Although she wasn't very tall and her large, bright eyes filled with innocence seemed to suggest that she was perfectly harmless but looks can be very deceiving.

She was now somewhere within Ellin Forest with a fellow elf who was hunting monsters for food. It was as dark as always since sunlight could not penetrate inside. However, the area was not as dense as compared to the others. The air around her was hot and humid but yet she seemed to take no notice of it.

"One down, one more to go~" Mercedes sung happily as she quickly shot down another wild boar for dinner tonight with her bow and arrow.

"You're really good, Mercedes!" said the fellow elf who was already tired from hunting.

"Not really, Fifi. Philius taught me well."

"Mercedes, always the humble one." He smiled as Mercedes once again shot down another wild boar.

"My parents are going to get me something special today!" Fifi said as Mercedes quickly shot down another wild boar.

"Oh. That's great." Mercedes tried to force a smile.

"I think we're about done here. Let's go." Mercedes continued quickly as she started to drag the corpses of the two wild boars back home with Fifi.

She had always wondered why is that her mother was never around. It was like a burden weighing on her small, fragile heart. Nobody had the heart to tell her that she died during Arkarium's invasion.

After hunting, she went back home to make dinner for Philius and Astlida. The interior was designed rather elegantly, as expected of Philius.

Today's menu was stir fried mushroom and wild boar stew and soon they were all seated nicely on their dining table ready to eat.

"Astlida, why is it that I have a mother but yet she isn't here with me?" Mercedes seemed sad.

Astlida nearly spat out the food that she was eating; it was too sudden for her.

"Err, well, your mother is still away at the Temple of Time with her friend Rhinne." Astlida wasn't a good liar but somehow she managed to fool Mercedes as she seemed convinced although she was still sad.

"We are also your mothers, you know." Philius jested.

Mercedes looked at Philius in confusion, she was very sure that it wasn't possible to have two mothers simultaneously.

"Okay, look. Your mother may not be around but we love you just as much as your mother loves you. So basically, we are really just your...guardians. You should smiling that you have guardians unlike your friends who have parents. Guardians are cooler than parents." Philius continued.

"Because I am the future ruler of Elluel right? Because I am special right?" It was as if Mercedes had found her own answer and was now seeking confirmation.

"Of course." Philius said.

"Hooray! I'll cook something better tomorrow for my guardians!"

"You certainly have a way with words." Astlida whispered to Philius.

* * *

Princess Aria from Ereve had totally no freedom. Everyday, she had to attend lessons after lessons on various stuffs such as piano and the harp; subjects such as Geography and History and lastly, the etiquette expected of a royal.

She was a teenager with cute, doll-like features and she had bangs on her golden, silky hair.

"All the other kids, running around happily and playing, it's great huh." Aria stared with envy while looking out the window in her room. Her desk was full of thick, dull books about History since she had a history test coming up.

Aria was lonely. Due to her status as a princess, nobody dared to play with her as they might be executed if anything were to happen to her. She also didn't really had the time anyway; her schedule was often full with lessons.

"If only my prince would pass by one day and rescue me..." Her favourite story was Rapunzel and she read the book over and over again whenever she had the time.

* * *

_ Meanwhile at an airship heading towards Ereve..._

"As the future ruler of Elluel, it is certainly proper of you to be making diplomatic relations." Philus said to Mercedes.

"You mean like making friends?"

"Yes, certainly." Philius smiled but at the back of his mind, he knew it was not as simple as making friends. Perhaps this was something that Mercedes should realise on her own.

Soon, they reached Ereve.

"Its, its amazing!" Mercedes literally screamed with excitement.

Ereve was a large town full of modernly designed shophouses and it was hustling and bustling with life with many traders from all the over the world hoping to make some decent mesos.

"Who are all those weird elves without pointy ears?" Mercedes asked curiously while walking past the crowded streets of Ereve with Philius.

"Ah, they are not elves but humans." From the stories he had heard about Arkarium's invasion, most humans were generally depicted as greedy and cruel except for the Magicians who saved their lives during the flare. While Philius didn't have a good impression on humans, he wasn't the sort of person who was quick to judge.

After a long and tiring walk through the crowd, they finally reached the main entrance of the palace of Ereve.

"We're here already." Philius said in relief.

While Ereve was certainly impressive enough for Mercedes, but the palace simply took her breath away.

"Philius, I want a palace as big as that!" Mercedes pouted while she pointed at the palace.

"Girls..." Philius thought at the back of his mind.

* * *

"So beautiful. Look at all those flowers." Mercedes's smile was as sweet as the flowers in the large garden inside the palace.

Philius merely smiled in acknowlegment.

"You'll be a nice little elf and stay here okay?"

"Okay." At this point of time, she was simply too enthralled by the flowers to actually look at Philius.

Although he was still a little worried but Mercedes was not some weak princess who requires constant protection. Thus, he began to make his way to the audience room.

Soon after, Mercedes heard a rustle near the bushes while admiring a nearby rose.

"Who's there?"

"It's just me..." Princess Aria was hiding in the bushes with a few pieces of leaf stuck on her bangs.

"Hello." Mercedes smiled.

"I...was planning to get out of here and I need your help." Aria seemed a little uncomfortable for she had never asked for a favour before.

"What sort of help?"

"There's a airship right there near the exit of the garden. I plan to hide in that ship and escape once the ship lands somewhere else."

"I see guards. But it's okay, I'll escort you." Mercedes did a quick scan around the area.

And so, by relying on the bushes to hide their presence, they managed to get close to the ship. However, it was too bad that they were suddenly discovered.

"Princess Aria, what in the world are you doing here?!" A guard shouted.

"It's bad to skip class Princess, I'll escort you back." Another guard said.

"And you, elf. You're not supposed to be near the princ-" Before the guard could finish his sentence, Mercedes quickly grabbed her bow from her back and as she pulled the string, a mysterious golden arrow appeared and was shot towards the knee of the guard.

"Let's go!" Mercedes shouted.

A shocked Aria quickly grabbed Mercedes's hand and both of them quickly entered the airship's cargo just before the door shut.

"Hurry up! Stop the ship!" shouted the guards. But it was too late for that as the ship began to take off and soon it was flying high up into the sky.

* * *

Inside the cargo was almost pitch black, but they could still see each other from the faint light coming through the gaps of the cargo.

"I've, I've seen it in the books! But I never thought I could see it in action!" Aria said excitedly.

While Aria was quite knowledgeable about elves, it was the first time she had seen an elf in person, not to mention witnessing Soul Arrow, a bread and butter skill of all elves.

"Oh yes, I forgot my manners. What's your name?" Aria asked.

"My name is Mercedes. And you are?"

"I'm Aria, Princess of Ereve."

"You still have a piece of leaf stuck on your hair." Mercedes laughed and quickly swiped the leaf off.

"Elves have superb eyesight... So it's true." Aria thought at the back of her mind.

"I'm excited to know where we are going! It's the first time I've been that far away from Elluel!"

"Me too! But it's Ereve, not Elluel."

And thus, they both started laughing.


	3. Chapter 2- Fun in Orbis

_In a secret, dark room hidden within the palace of Ereve..._

"My Lord, Aria has unexpectedly escaped through the airship that landed today near the garden."

"I wonder where will that airship land... " Lord Everest mused.

"Orbis. I am sure of that."

"Very well. Send those guys to Orbis. They'll know what to do." An evil smile started to spread across his cruel face.

"Aria, you made this too convenient for me." And then he started to chuckle maliciously.

* * *

"Mercedes... Do you know where we are?" Aria asked.

"Orbis." Mercedes turned to point at a sign.

"O-bi-su..." Aria slowly enunciated. She was not so good with Fairese yet, a language that was specially used only by fairies and elves but then English is very much preferred since it was the common language everyone speaks nowadays. It was strangely similar to Japanese.

Orbis was a giant, floating town literally 200km above land. It was peaceful and every buliding had a mythical, fairy-like design to it; even the houses were gorgeously designed.

"Amazing! It's just like a giant piece of art." Aria exclaimed.

Soon, they started to explore Orbis and go sight-seeing. After a short while, they got bored and sat on a bench in the streets of Orbis.

"Isn't there anything else we can do here?" Aria sighed. Orbis may be beautiful and peaceful but there wasn't much to do here.

"Over there, look! It's a carnival!" Mercedes loved carnivals, especially the ones in Ellin Forest.

Before Aria could say anything, Mercedes quickly grabbed her hand and dragged her to the ticket counter.

_"いっらしゃいませ!" _

"Welcome!" said the ticket counter staff in Fairese.

"**_きっぷは二枚お願いします._**"

"I want 2 tickets." said Mercedes in Fairese also, before reaching for her pocket to pay for the tickets.

And then the ticket counter staff promptly gave them the tickets.

_"ありがとうございます."_

"Thank you very much." said the ticket counter staff warmly with her best Fairese voice before they were ushered inside the carnival.

The carnival was large and crowded. Booths were set up all over the place and there was a large queue for each booth. The booths were entirely made up of toy bricks and it was painted bright yellow. Loud music was playing from the loudspeakers attached onto the booths and the whole atmosphere was full of life.

"Carnival of Ludibrium!" Aria's eyes instantly lit up as soon as she saw the booths; there was no mistaking about this, only the Carnival of Ludibrium have booths entirely made up of only toy bricks.

Setting up the Carnival of Ludibrium was part of Ludibrium's effort in promoting their culture throughout the entire world. Previously, it had landed on Ereve and this time, Orbis.

"Why is this carnival so strange..." Mercedes was totally lost. Carnivals in Ellin Forest did not include amusement rides and the iconic ferry wheel.

"Roller coaster! You have to ride this one!"

Now it was Aria's turn to grab Mercedes's hand before she could say anything and quickly dragged her to the long, snaky queue that began to get even longer.

"ARE you sure it's safe?" Mercedes was getting more and more afraid as she observed how that weird machine filled with people was literally zooming throughout the whole path.

Aria chuckled at the thought of a brave, young elf who wasn't afraid of shooting at a guard to be paralysed with fear from riding a roller coaster.

After a long wait, finally it was their turn to ride the roller coaster.

"Now, remember to always buckle up and of course, have fun." A worker announced before he began to press the start button of the ride.

As the roller coaster went faster and faster, Aria was literally screaming with joy.

"I CAN FLY! THIS FEELING IS SO AMAZING!"

Meanwhile, a shocked Mercedes could only stare with her eyes wide open with fear as she started mumbling in Fairiese. Mercedes had a tendency to mumble in Fairese sometimes whenever she becomes extremely afraid.

**_"大丈夫、大丈夫..."_**

"It's okay, it's okay..." Mercedes said in Fairese as she tried to breathe in and out slowly.

After what seemed like forever to Mercedes but only a short while to Aria, the ride slowly came to a stop.

"Ah Mercedes, it was so much fun isn't it so?" Aria smiled but when she saw how shaken Mercedes was, she started to laugh.

"You're not the only one, Mercedes." said Aria as she started to laugh again.

Next, they went to a game stand booth that didn't have too much people; they were tired of queuing already.

"Welcome, welcome! Shoot 3 arrows onto the bullseye and receive a prize of your choice. It's 300 mesos for 3 arrows." A man who seemed to be entirely composed of toy bricks quickly said as he caught sight of the both of them.

"Okay." Mercedes said as she gave the man 300 mesos.

"I'm sorry, but elves are not allowed to play. This is to ensure fairness."

"What in th-" Mercedes was flabbergasted; it is true that elves are well known to be extremely talented in archery but banned from a game just because of that seemed unreasonable.

"I'll go then." Aria said calmly.

With that, Aria picked up the bow with ease and quickly fired 3 arrows into the bullseye.

"I don't think its fair to not allow elves to play just because they are talented." Aria said with a serious look on her face.

The man had nothing to say and he quickly gave Aria a soft teddy bear before they walked away.

"Cheer up!" Aria smiled as she gave the teddy bear to Mercedes.

"Hmph, stupid man." It was the first time Mercedes was being discriminated against and it certainly left a bitter taste inside her.

* * *

Meanwhile, two bandits had just arrived in Orbis under orders of Lord Everest to kill Aria.

"Stupid Lord Everest. Even if I killed that little brat named Aria, I would still be underpaid." the first bandit grumbled; he was often underpaid by Lord Everest.

"Just kill her and perhaps that stingy miser would finally be willing to pay us more mesos." said the second bandit.

"I see Aria and an elf...? "

"Kill that elf if she gets too annoying. I am pretty sure this isn't your first time killing somebody." the second bandit said with an exasperated sigh. If it wasn't for the fact that he had lost all his money to gambling, he would never have accepted the job. Killing royalty was no laughing matter; he still had a family to feed and he did not want to implicate them too.

"They are heading towards the park in Orbis." said the first bandit.

"Alright. You know what to do."

* * *

As the both of them sat at a bench in Orbis Park, they started to admire the beautiful scenery of the park.

"This was a fun day!" said a tired Mercedes who had enjoyed herself thoroughly at the carnival except for a certain game stand booth.

Aria smiled contently as today felt like a dream come true for her.

"It's time we go back to Ereve. I realised that as the future empress of Ereve, I have responsibilities to fulfill and I should not be so selfish to only think about myself."

"Aria..." Mercedes was very impressed by Aria's maturity; perhaps it was because she was taller than her.

It was just then the two bandits made their move.

_"Smokescreen."_

This was no ordinary smokescreen for it was laced with sleeping powder. However, while Aria was instantly knocked unconscious by the sleeping powder, Mercedes was not affected at all.

All around her was thick smoke severely hindering her vision of the surroundings and as she was about to grab her bow instinctively, a figure from the shadowy depths of the smoke quickly lunged into her and she was knocked down to the ground unconscious.

_"Assaulter."_

The second bandit smiled as he dragged the unconscious pair and dumped them into the cargo of a mysterious stealth airship parked at an inconspicuous area in Orbis Park.

"That wasn't part of the plan!" shouted the first bandit who was waiting outside the airship.

"I hope you realised that there is one more thing that isn't part of the plan." A slow, menancing smile started to spread across his face. However, the first bandit only gave him a confused look.

"Too slow." said the second bandit as he quickly threw a smokescreen bomb.

_"Midnight Carnival."_

Blinded by the smokescreen, the first bandit was not able to dodge the 8 rapid slashes which split his body into 16 pieces.

"It was you, my dear friend." said the second bandit who was totally covered in blood and as the blood slowly dripped from his dagger and body, he said just one more thing.

_"His blood is too sweet. Perhaps he was going to die anyway from diabetes."_

After that, he used a communication rock to send a message to Lord Everest.

_"Aria has been dealt with nicely, together with a pesky little elf who happen to be there."_

* * *

Meanwhile at the audience room, Philius was still discussing issues with the king of Ereve when suddenly, a messenger quickly barged into the room.

"Aria... Princess Aria is dead!"

"This can't be!" The king was devastated; how could Aria die just like that.

"Apperently, Lord Everest saw an elf kidnapping Aria but when Lord Everest tried to stop her, the elf quickly killed Aria before escaping. However, the elf was careless and left a bow behind."

"Mercedes..." Philius was horrified to see that it was Mercedes's bow.

"Where is her body?" The king now demanded fiercely; he still didn't believe that Aria was dead and that everything was a cruel, stupid joke.

Just then, an elegant white coffin with a transparent cover was carried in by four guards who had a solemn look in their faces. Inside was Aria lying motionlessly with a peaceful smile.

"Aria." said the king before he fainted; it was too much for him.

"Arrest this elf under suspicion of taking part in killing Princess Aria." A voice suddenly spoke aloud.

It was Lord Everest who was slowly walking towards the coffin.

"Yes, my Lord." said the guards.

As Philius was dragged by the guards into the prison of Ereve, he had only one thought in his mind.

_"Nothing must not happen to Mercedes."_

* * *

**Author's note:** I tried adding a little Japanese inside to make the story slightly more refreshing but do let me know if you think that its actually bad for the story.

Lastly, thank you to all of you who showed support for this story!

I do really, really, REALLY appreciate reviews alot but its okay if you just rate :D


	4. Chapter 3- Trapped in Ariant

Under the hot sweltering sun of Ariant with his airship, the second bandit was getting more and more frustrated by the second. The land he was stepping on was completely bone-dry and was showing very obvious signs of cracking. A sudden, turbulent sandstorm occurred and so he quickly took cover by covering his face with his mask. After a short while, the sandstorm subsided and a mysterious man appeared right before him. He was wearing a white, flowing robe and had a turban on his head.

"I would like to inspect the goods." The man said politely.

The second bandit quickly opened the cargo door of the airship and inside was an unconscious Aria and Mercedes with both their hands and legs chained.

"Are you offering the elf as well?"

"1.5 billion mesos for the both of them."

"Very well, it's a deal."

The man quickly took out three pieces of paper from his robe and transformed them into 3 large suitcases with the cover already open and the second bandit could clearly see that there were stacks and stacks of mesos bundled together inside.

"You may inspect the mesos if you want."

The second bandit then took 1 meso from each suitcase and tossed them right into the air.

"Meso_ Explosion."_

A quick shadow appeared behind the bandit before the mesos exploded into pieces with a loud boom.

"Yup, its the real deal." The second bandit said as he observed the shreds of mesos still lingering in the air from the explosion.

"Such a useful skill isn't it so." The man was very impressed. After all, unlike other trader specialising in slave trafficking, he is renowned for his honesty during trade.

After the second bandit took the 3 suitcases and stored them carefully in the cargo, he dragged an unconscious Mercedes and Aria from the cargo and simply tossed them to the ground.

"Adios, trader." The second bandit said before disappearing into the sky with his airship.

* * *

"Where are we..." Mercedes said groggily. They were now both inside a prison cell. The walls around them were painted grey and there was nothing inside except for some hay that the both of them were lying on. The only window in here was a small window on a metal door.

"Mercedes, are you okay?" Aria's voice seemed weak and was barely audible.

Just then, they heard the creaking of the metal door opening and a fat woman appeared.

"It's time for work, you lazy asses!" The fat woman shouted.

Upon seeing Aria still asleep, the fat woman quickly went to get a pail of cold water and splashed it onto Aria.

"Go away!" Aria screamed as she was rudely awoken by the cold water.

"You are now slaves to the Enizbern's household in case you were not informed. Somebody sold the both of you to this household." The fat woman said flatly to the both of them.

She could not help but to feel a bit sorry for them as kids from poorer families were often kidnapped to be sold as slaves or forced into slavery by their parents to earn mesos in Ariant.

"Poor human, what kind of food did her parents feed her." She wondered as she now looked at Mercedes's pointy ears.

"Let us go, fat witch!" Mercedes commanded rudely. She was in a very bad mood from the chains on both her hands and legs.

In response to that, the fat woman gave Mercedes a tight slap to her face before kicking her towards the wall.

"SHUT THE HELL UP."

For once, Mercedes felt very powerless. Without her bow, there was nothing she could do to escape this predicament.

Aria could only look at the fat woman with her eyes and mouth opened wide with fear.

* * *

"Wash this by noon. If not, you know the consequences." The fat woman said as she cracked her whip, threatening to punish any fault that she sees.

In front of Aria and Mercedes in their prison cell now was a big tub filled with clean water and beside it was one more empty big tub. Piles and piles of clothes were being stacked up in a few other tubs.

"How do we actually wash this?" Aria asked innocently; her own maids would always take care of such chores.

The fat woman answered her question by using her whip; it was a painful answer as the whip lashed out at Aria's back.

Aria was instantly brought to tears from the sheer intensity of the pain. Blood red stains started to appear on her slave clothes as she tried to hold back the tears.

Mercedes glared fiercely at the fat woman who now had a sadistic smile from watching Aria squirm in pain.

"If only my mother was here, she'd know what to do." Mercedes thought as she remembered what Astlida had said about her mother; a powerful elf who single-handedly crushed an entire army of humans during Arkarium's invasion.

The fat woman then proceeded to whip Mercedes when she saw that fierce glare from her.

"Such insolence, you mutant."

Mercedes could only clench her teeth with pain and anger as the blood started dripping from her body.

"The stories are true, most humans are cruel and evil-hearted." Mercedes was now convinced that this was so.

"After you wash all those clothes with the water, put them in the empty tub in front of you." The fat woman instructed before she left the cell and locked the door securely.

* * *

At the Enizbern's household, newly captured slaves were often sent to a underground prison cell to wash clothes.

However, this was no ordinary prison cell for it was infused with a zombifying spell that gradually saps one's consciousness and turns them into mindless zombies that washes clothes all day long.

Mercedes was the first to realise this when she felt her consciousness struggling to escape but she somehow managed to prevent it from escaping through sheer willpower. Meanwhile, Aria seemed to have lost all of her consciousness as she had a totally dazed look when washing the clothes.

"There must be something wrong in this room." Mercedes cursed sliently under her breath. She was losing her focus and soon enough her consciousness would just simply fade away.

It was just then when Mercedes heard some weird noises and then the door was opened.

"This is bad." A young, blonde man dressed in a black covert suit now said as he saw a dazed Aria mindlessly washing clothes.

He was once a student of Raven, who was the master thief that managed to stay undetected throughout while gathering information for Arkarium at the Temple of Time. Although he was now famous throughout the whole world for his ability to steal any item, no matter how closely guarded or well-hidden it was, but it was the first time that he was actually stealing something that was alive from a underground prison. His name was Phantom.

The plan now is to rescue Aria from Ariant and according to his sources in Ariant, she was sold to the Enizbern's household.

"Are you here to rescue us?" Mercedes said with great effort as she was now lying on the ground trying her best not to let her consciousness slip.

Phantom was surprised to see an elf here; elves rarely ventured out of Elluel but nevertheless he decided to also rescue her. He viewed her as an asset to fend off any possible threat since she was still had her consciousness even though he had doubts about how good Mercedes was in combat.

Thus, he proceeded to drag Mercedes out of the prison cell while he knocked Aria unconscious so that he could at least carry her out of here. Surprisingly, there was no guards outside and Mercedes could tell now that she was in a underground prison cave with rows and rows of cells inside.

As Mercedes was no longer affected by the spell, she instantly felt a great sense of relief and with a quick swipe of a long dagger that Phantom took out from his belt, he broke the chains on both Mercedes and Aria.

"Here, you might need this." Phantom quickly tossed a small pistol-sized bowgun towards Mercedes that he took from his belt.

"What in the world is that?" It looked a lot like a crossbow to her but slightly different as there was a small projecting tongue attached at the bottom.

"Just press down on the projecting tongue below to fire. Hurry up, it won't be long before somebody comes!" Phantom quickly urged Mercedes who was now lost in analysing this new weapon.

With that, Phantom carried Aria on her back and together with Mercedes, they managed to escape through a upward staircase path until a large metal door was in the way.

"Hold Aria for me, will you?" Phantom smiled charmingly at Mercedes; it was second nature for him to smile like that whenever he was about to perform something impressive.

After Phantom made sure that Mercedes was carrying Aria securely on her back after she returned the bowgun back to him, he then attached the bowgun back to his belt and then proceeded to take out the last weapon that was attached to his belt. It was a wide, long curvy blade with a H-shaped handle extending from the fist. Phantom coolly referred to it as a katara; a product from his own improvements to the normal dagger. However, Phantom had a tendency to lie in order to impress girls, in his case, Mercedes. With the dagger on his right and his katara on his left, he started to focus intently on the door. However, that was just simply another dramatic attempt to impress Mercedes although he did need to focus a little as it wasn't a very easy skill to execute.

"Now step back for a little bit."

If Phantom's aim was to charm Mercedes off her socks, he clearly succeeded as Mercedes was now looking at him with admiration in her eyes.

"_Phantom Blow."_

Wide, arching slashes started to appear as Phantom was literally slashing at the metal door at about 36 slashes per second. It was so fast that both of his hands seemed to have faded away .

Soon enough, Phantom managed to slash open a hole just big enough for them to escape. They now found themselves on a large sandy desert plain. It was now night and the sky was a deep blue adorned with sparkly stars.

"Geez, that was easy." Phantom said as he was admiring the night sky while Mercedes was still struggling to carry Aria on her back. His beautiful, satisfied look seemed to have merged with the mysterious beauty of the night was enthralled by this scene. Mercedes could now feel her heart flutter a little as she watched him sliently admiring the night sky.

"The Enizberns were really asking for it." Phantom now mused. Although the entrance was well hidden and heavily guarded with various traps but surprisingly that was the only challenge for him as the inside was loosely guarded with only a fat woman patrolling the area during the day and nobody at night. The exit was only a locked metal door leading to a large sandy desert plain with nobody guarding it as expected.

Just then, he heard wings fluttering and from the night sky, he saw a giant yet elegant bird carrying two person from a distance.

"Ah, not the sort of rescue I was expecting but oh well." He now calmly observed the bird who had just landed in front of them.

A young man who had grey hair wearing a monocle was the first who descended from the bird and politely took the unconscious Aria from Mercedes and laid her down carefully on the bird's soft wings that was already spreaded out widely. Soon after, it was Philius who was silghtly beaten down from the torture he had received in prison that descended from the bird.

"Philius!" Mercedes screamed as she quickly rushed forward to hug him.

"Aria is now under a zombifying spell, it is fortunate that she did not lose her consciousness but was simply repressed under the spell." The bird suddenly spoke.

"You must be Shinsoo, the divine bird of Ereve and the guy who is suffering from premature aging, Neinheart is it not?" Phantom said to the both of them who was now at Aria's side.

"I have no idea why of all people, you, would be rescuing the princess but the king of Ereve is now dead and Ereve is now in chaos with Lord Everest threatening to take over the position of king." Neinheart was blaffed, a famous thief under Raven who also knew where Aria was and actually rescued her. For a while Neinheart beileved that the sun must have started to rise from the west and that he wasn't aware of this.

"I didn't rescue the princess, dearest Neinheart. With good planning and some luck, you could say that I merely escorted the princess out." Phantom said cockily.

"Anyway, we will need about 15000 zombie teeths from the zombies in El Nath to neutralise the spell. You only have 2 days." Shinsoo's voice was urgent, it won't be long before Lord Everest would succeed in becoming the new ruler of Ereve.

With Aria's death, he was the only one left worthy of being the new ruler. However, only Shinsoo was aware that Aria's corpse in the coffin was a fake as she could sense that Aria was actually still alive and together with Neinheart, who beileved that Ereve would be doomed with him being the ruler, they broke into prison to rescue Philius as Neinheart thought that he might be able to offer some clue towards Aria's disappearance. Turns out that it was a child elf that somehow disappeared together with Aria.

"I'll save your sorry Ereve just this once, together with her of course." Phantom said while he turned to look at Mercedes.

"Of all people, her?!" Philius was not in the least amused with Phantom's ridiculous request that entails risking Mercedes's life. She was just a kid for god's sake.

"Even a kid needs to start exploring out of her comfort zone, certainly zombies wouldn't scare a little fighter like her. Or you could just let Aria stay like this forever, I think a sleeping Aria would become a great attraction of Ereve. A sleeping beauty waiting for a kiss of her true love in order to awake from her deep slumber." Phantom taunted. He was certain that he was the only person fast enough to gather 15000 zombies teeth in 2 days.

"Philius, its okay, I'll go with him." Mercedes said softly with a slight blush on her face.

"Stop your worrying, she'll be fine with me." Phantom smiled assuredly at a worried Philius before he quickly disappeared together with Mercedes in a shower of cards.

"Perhaps that thief was right, she does need to start exploring out of her own comfort zone." Philius sighed. He just hoped that Astlida wouldn't start screaming at him for recklessly leaving Mercedes with a thief and some zombies.


End file.
